ELECTRIC power infrastructure is increasingly connected, making east-west traffic visibility inside the Electronic Security Perimeter essential for detecting lateral movement within BES, OT, ICS, and enterprise IT environments. The article notes that attackers often move laterally after breaching the network, potentially reaching high-value operational assets, so monitoring internal communications is crucial to stopping threats before they affect generation, transmission, or distribution.
It highlights that traditional security tools tend to focus on north-south traffic and may miss OT-specific context, emphasising the need to understand industrial protocols such as DNP3, IEC 61850, OPC and Modbus. A modern security approach proposed in the piece combines IT and OT monitoring with AI-driven analytics to surface abnormal internal activity, identify unmanaged devices, and automate investigation and response.
According to TrendAI Vision One, the platform provides OT-aware visibility across internal network communications, enabling faster detection of lateral movement and quicker containment across complex grid environments. The piece also describes how regulatory developments like NERC-CIP-15 reinforce expectations for stronger monitoring and internal visibility to monitor ESPs, detect anomalies, and investigate threats quickly. 18 March 2026